


Mermaid Call

by officialpiccolo



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, More tags will be added as story progesses, god I love mermaids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-30 01:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8513782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/officialpiccolo/pseuds/officialpiccolo
Summary: It was beautiful and vicious, the tenacity of which Minato had never seen, a haunting visage with something deeply unsettling hiding just below a surface that never broke. Could a monster be beautiful? If so, then it had more beauty than even some humans.In which Tobirama is a mermaid, Minato is a pirate, and their worlds begin to fall apart.





	

It had been on the ship for one whole day now.  
Minato Namikaze tilted his head slightly, looking towards the direction of the captured beast hidden below decks, no doubt in an absolutely dour temperament as per usual. That...thing was vicious, in more ways than one. He wasn’t sure what was worse, its bark or its bite.  
He glanced to his left, where a fellow pirate was scowling and repairing a fishing net. His arm was swollen and bruised, vicious tear in his skin showing up painfully clearly.  
“It’s gonna be yer turn soon enough!” The pirate snapped at Minato, and the blond jumped. The pirate - Marasu Itami, Minato vaguely remembered - jabbed a finger visiously in Minato’s direction. “That bitch is gonna rip yer arm off too, and then you’ll ALL,” he yelled, twisting around so his screams were heard by the other pirates on the ship, “GET TO STARE AT YER OWN ARMS INSTEAD OF MINE ALL THE TIME!”  
“Calm down, Marasu,” the captain rumbled sternly.  
“Be grateful your ugly mug is gettin’ looked at period,” another crewmate cackled.  
Marasu jumped to his feet and prepared to charge, swearing heavily, before Minato pulled him down again.  
“Come on, Marasu,” he pleaded. He didn’t particularly want a brawl to break out - they were always loud and bloody. “He didn’t mean anythin’ by it, he was just makin’ fun.”  
“Yeah Marasu, calm down a little,” another crewmate piped up, glancing over her shoulder. Marasu threw his hands up in disgust and sat down, picking up his work once more.  
It was beautiful and vicious, the tenacity of which Minato had never seen, a haunting visage with something deeply unsettling hiding just below a surface that never broke. Could a monster be beautiful? If so, then it had more beauty than even some humans.  
“Who’s gonna feed it next?”  
The ship was silent.  
“I said, who’s gonna feed it next?!” The captain called again, louder this time. Still, the ship remained silent and impassive.  
“Yer all cowards,” he scowled, motioning to a fellow pirate to take the wheel of the mighty Jigoku no Fune.  
All the crew turned to look at him, Rin Koijura, 185cm of pure muscle and intimidation, rolled up neatly and precisely into a package of fine leathers and a sheathed sword hanging by his right leg. A glare with eyes of deep grey, stormy as the seas oft became, and the ship immediately felt a wave of panic lace through them like a talented seamstress’ needle.  
He stroked his thick silver-and-red striped beard, one hand behind his back, looking to be in deep thought.  
“Maybe,” he said, gently, but not the sort that a kind mother speaks in before bedtime - rather with the softness of the hiss of a snake about to strike.  
“Maybe,” he repeated again, “I should feed one of you to it.”  
The silence on the ship grew even colder, laced with ice of terror.  
“Unless one of you volunteers RIGHT NOW,” he roared, voice echoing across the vast expanse of ocean, “I’m going to feed one of you to the beast!”  
A pause, and then -  
“I’ll feed it,” Minato said, standing up and looking the captain coolly in the eye.  
“Well!” Koijura laughed. “So the rookie is the one to volunteer. The rest of you disgust me!” He said scathingly. “No alcohol for you all tonight,” he continued, turning about to face the wheel again and began to make his way back towards it amidst cries of fury. “That’s what you GET,” he yelled, turning back towards the crowd which immediately fell silent under the gaze of the captain.  
“Cowards do not prosper,” he said softly. “As do those who do not give themselves for the greater good and fortune of this ship.”  
The crewmates were silent and still as the sound of Koijura’s boots echoed firmly around them.  
“Namikaze,” he tossed over his shoulder as he approached the wheel of his ship once again, crewmate who had been steering immediately scuttling out of the way.  
“Yes?” Minato said, jumping slightly.  
“Go and feed that thing before it dies, will you? I want it to be in good condition when we make it to the mainland and begin to profit off of it...what do you all think?” he asked nonchalantly, turning back to his crew with one hand on the wheel. “Shall we keep it and sail about the world, showing it off for great fortune, or sell it for a mighty high and fine price?”  
The ship immediately buzzed into chatter, and Minato hastily slipped away.  
Grabbing a net full of only slightly rancid fish, he hastily scrambled below decks, the ruckus above fading into the wood as he made his way into the belly of the ship.  
It was so much more peaceful down here, Minato sighed. Without the constant roaring and cursing...he shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. Now was not the time to weaken.  
Right, left, down, left...the way to the monster. Minato stopped before the door that held it, mentally preparing himself.  
A low, long hiss emanated from behind the door. Minato gulped.  
“I’m coming in,” he said, trying to sound stern. “Don’t bite me.” With that, he opened the door.  
A small room, lacking in windows and unlit, covered in water from the creature’s splashing in a ivory-coloured, claw-footed tub far too small for it to be comfortable in. That was it - it had been a small storage room before it had been a prison.   
And then there was it, glaring at him, fingers curling around the edge of the bathtub and tail spilling out the end. Pure white hair, mussed and trailing past his shoulders - blazing red eyes and endless fangs, constantly bared. Lightly muscled and pale, with a long and what was probably once a graceful tail tinted milky blue trailing off to soft purple near the end. Angry scars littered its body with red, and three on his face were in an odd pattern...a horizontal slash on each cheek, and a vertical one below his lip, disappearing beneath his chin.  
“What?” it spat, and let loose a low and rumbling growl. Minato gulped.  
“I...dinner,” he said, holding out the net of fish as evidence.  
“You dinner?” it repeated, then grinned. “Well, if you’re my dinner, I wouldn’t mind eating you up…”  
“Don’t be vile,” Minato said mildly.  
“I’m not eating those fish,” it said stubbornly.  
“Why not?” Minato frowned, glancing at the fish as if he couldn’t smell the putrid fumes now coming off of it in torrents.  
“Are you stupid?” it asked blankly. “Why the fuck do you think? It smells terrible!”  
They looked at each other for a moment before Minato sighed and put his hand down.  
“You’re right,” he said with a wry chuckle. “It does smell...bad.”  
It let loose a hiss.  
“Sorry,” Minato said, shrugging. “Didn’t know you’d be picky about it. I’ve just got my orders to feed you.”  
“From whom?”  
“The Captain.”  
“Do me a favour and throw those fish in his face, because I’m not going to eat spoiled fish,” it said, tossing angrily in the tub to lay down, staring at the ceiling with arms crossed.  
“What’s your name?”  
“Huh? Oh…” Minato frowned and scratched the back of his head. Well, it wasn’t like the man was going to use it against him or anything…  
“Minato Namikaze.”   
“Minato Namikaze,” It repeated, deep tone rolling the words around in his mouth delicately, avoiding sharp rows of teeth.  
Minato paused. Should he keep talking to it? Nothing more than a beast, even if it was beautiful…  
“Do you have a name?”  
The creature remained motionless for a moment, staring holes into the ceiling, before turning to his side to face Minato again.  
“Tobirama Senju.”  
“Doesn’t sound like a monster’s name.”  
“Of course monsters have names. Don’t murderers of innocents get given a name at birth?”  
“I meant a physical monster, not a...moral one.”  
Tobirama cocked his eyebrow. “I may be a merman, and a beast, but that’s no excuse for me not to have a name.” He sighed, turning back towards the ceiling. “If monsters didn’t have names, I wouldn’t not have one just because I’m a creature from the depths of the ocean…”  
He suddenly looked fuming.  
“Go away.”  
“You can't tell me what to do,” Minato protested, crossing his arms stubbornly.  
Tobirama forced himself up again, glaring at the man in front of him. He was reasonably tall (180cm, he guessed), with tan skin darkened even further by the sun. His starkly yellow blond hair contrasted sharply and beautifully with his bright blue eyes, colour of the skies, and again with his brown skin. Freckles littered his face lightly and dusted his upper shoulders. He bore a look of gentleness that seemed to betray how he had only been in piratetry for a year, but as Tobirama’s eyes raked his toned and bare upper body, he realized Minato had probably seen his fair share of fights...gentle pink scars covered it, looking so different from Tobirama’s own…  
“...can I have a fish?”  
“Of course,” Minato said in surprise. “But I thought you didn’t want any.” Nonetheless, he reached into the net, pulled a fish out, and held it out to the merman.  
“Thank you,” Tobirama replied, holding the fish in his fingertips and twirling it as he gazed at his food.  
…  
WHAP!  
“What the HELL!” Minato shrieked, wiping his face off and kicking away the fish that had just hit him.  
“Go away!” Tobirama roared, twisting in the small tub, body squeaking against the porcelain, the low water in the tub splashing audibly against the edges. “Leave me be or I’ll bite you.”  
“You wouldn’t dare,” Minato hissed. But Tobirama did not back down, and set a look of steel in his eyes before pushing his upper body out the bathtub, looking ready to pounce on the blond - and with that, Minato tripped backwards out the prison and closed the door behind him, engulfing Tobirama in darkness once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Damn this took a long time to write but I love writing about mermaids  
> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
